Too many players, too many campaigns

[Altamont Ravenard]

In march, a player will come back from China after a 6 months absence. In June, another player will come back from France after a 9 month absence. During the time of their absence, new players have been recruited.

So, in summer, we'll be 8 players. Many of you might think that 8 players isn't too much, but for us, it is. For a weeknight game (we try to play every 2-3 weeks), which doesn't last more than 4 hours, having 7 players will mean that too many of them won't get enough spot-light, and will get bored.

Moreover, out of the 8 players, 7 are also DMs, and three of those DMs have multiple parallel games.

The thing is, we're all friends, and we all want to play with each other.

(I feel kind of stupid posting this... it sounds like "waaah, I have too much of a good thing"... I'm sorry for you folks who can't get a game going...)

So, who had to deal with too many players? How did you resolve it? I imagine you split up into smaller groups?

For those of you who have a large number of players at their table, what's the trick to handle them all and make sure everyone has fun?

If anyone has had experience with multiple DM's (for a single game), how did it go? How did you split the job?

Any advice will be appreciated...



AR

 

[Henry]

Handling a larger group is not that different from handling a 4 person group, but the DM must be on his or her toes, and he must require more of the players.

1. Make sure (use peer pressure if needed) that NO player is unprepared for the session. Every player needs to know their characters well. If you call for an attack roll, no one needs to dawdle and recount their bonuses EVERY TIME they roll a die. (*grrr - personal peeve*). Make sure each player knows WHAT they want to do when it's their turn - ask them to think about their action before it gets to them.
2. Ask each player to roll all dice when they perform an action that requires it. You wouldn't BELIEVE how much table time it saves to roll (for instance) an attack, damage and miss chance together.
3. As DM you have work cut out for you too. In order for each person in a combat or turn-based situation to think ahead of time, they must know when it's their turn. Let them know who's next when it's the previous person's turn - or even two people ahead.
4. Initiative cards (from The Game Mechanics publishers) work wonders in keeping turns straight, and also what skills each person has.
5. Out of combat, every person needs a chance to shine, so be sure to keep every PC in mind when designing a plot. Think how to add a snippet if nothing else for each person, based not only on what their character is, but what that PLAYER likes. You'll have no problem with players who like combat - include at least one potential combat a session. for the thinkers and strategists, come up with a sticky problem that takes a bit of planning to resolve. Make sure that a simple combat won't unravel it. For the immersive roleplayers, make sure that at least one or two encounters require someone who can talk a good game to resolve the problem.

If your group is composed mainly of one of these types, you have it made. Otherwise, it's a bit of work, but approach it as any other building exercise. "How can I make this a pleasurable experience for all?"

Alternately, if this is tried and does not work out after the first few sessions, talk to the whole group and try to come up with a split group solution that works for everyone. Or, plan the two split groups and make sure at least twice a month everybody gets together for a massive team board game, or a dinner and movie outing. It could be, when comparing schedules, the problem takes care of itself when two or more people can't make it all the time.

Hope some of this helps!

 

[kenobi65]

I concur with all of Henry's advice...one of our groups has 8 players (plus me as DM), and all of these help a lot.

We're "capped" at 8, and have been for about 7 years now. When one player leaves, another one has always seemed to materialize to take his or her place. Technically, we've got two former players who are on "reserve" -- the game date (Friday nights) doesn't fit with their schedule right now. If they ask to come back, we'd probably let 'em back in, but it'd get a little tight.

Oh, and we *rarely* have all 8 there at once. Of the 8, four are hardcore (always there), two miss every so often, and 2 are only there about 50% of the time (one of those lives out of state now, and isn't always able to finagle a trip back to coincide with our game, and the other has a vehemently non-gaming wife, so it's often hard for him to join us).

To build on Henry's point #5, I also try to, longer-term, make sure every PC has a session in which he's in the spotlight -- this usually revolves around the PC's class (i.e., the ranger shines in the adventure that takes the party deep into the high forest) or backstory (i.e., the party visits a small village that's one PC's hometown, and that PC's mother is a key NPC for the story).

 

[fusangite]

I have had this problem -- actually I had even more players. My solution was to turn a weekly group into two groups that met every second week. As for how to run eight-player games, the key thing to do is to get more puzzle-oriented so that people can be figuring things out with eachother even when they are not directly involved in play.

 

[ForceUser]

I am blessed with having over a dozen friends who want to play in my campaign. My solution was to split them up into two groups and play each group on a different day. So I run my games twice a month - once for each group - and everybody is happy.

 

[Umbra]

Work with another person as co DM.